Good Future-Bad Future
by Dr Namgge
Summary: Neither Sonic nor Eggman ever expected their battles to end. But a freak accident during one of the battles causes just that and now the world is missing one Hero/Villain. As the world changes around them at this shocking news, just how will Sonic/Eggman react in a world that this revelation will leave behind? And did Sonic/Eggman really want the victory they ultimately gained?
1. (Fall and) Rise and Fall

After many hours, this battle was very nearly over. Sonic had pursued Eggman through countless zones, beating him at every turn, destroying many of his forces, and now, the final battle was set here in Eggman's last stronghold. A desperate Sonic was beginning to feel tired, and was ready to give his all to stop his nemesis' plans for world domination. But Eggman had one last machine left, a giant three story war mech; purpose built for this very situation, an evil machine armed to the teeth with deadly weaponry that could tear a hedgehog apart.

_This was what the last few hours had lead up to. Robotnik was knackered now, having been chased through numerous zones by that relentless hedgehog. But now he was at his last defence, a twenty foot tale robot which he intended to use now. The robot was not combat tested, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and Robotnik was desperate._

The battle took place in some sort of factory, as far as Sonic could make out, though he had no idea what was being built here. Sonic didn't have time to look, he found himself dodging bullets. The fight was bitter, each combatant trading blows, Sonic aiming attacks at the bodies centre, and trying to dodge the bullets and missiles Eggman threw at him.

_Robotnik fired off volleys of ballistic missiles at the hedgehog, as the blue blur ran around his robot assembling facility. The fight was frantic, with both of them trading attacks, Robotnik aiming what he could at the hedgehog, and doing his best to block damage from Sonic's strikes._

As the battle raged, the facility became weakened, due to a combination of erratic missile fire, and Sonic's erratic movements. With the pair of them intensely distracted with each other, neither registered just what was going on.

_The battle had gone for over an hour, when the ceiling started to collapse. Small chunks at first, then supports and girder fell, making the whole fight much more complicated for the pair of them._

With a creek, _then a snap, _another _one fell._

* * *

The girder came crashing down, slicing through Eggman's weakened suit, cutting all power to it. The robot fell to the floor, quickly buried underneath more rubble. Sonic stood there shocked for a moment, he had seen Eggman's bases get destroyed countless times, but he had never seen Eggman be unable to fly off. For a moment, he stopped, before realising he needed to escape himself. The hedgehog began running. He sprinted as fast as he could out of the place as the base imploded inwards.

* * *

_Robotnik could only watch as the girder fell from the ceiling, taking Sonic by surprise. The hedgehog had been so focused on dodging missile attacks; he seemingly hadn't noticed the beam until it landed atop him. Even though Robotnik couldn't get out to get a close look, he could tell that the blow was a killer, as Sonic's body was completely crushed by it. But Robotnik didn't have any time to react, he needed to escape. Deciding to ditch the robot, he flew out, navigating carefully as he watched his base explode.  
_

* * *

Sonic had to check the next day, just to be sure. He returned to the ruins of Eggman's lab, with Tails.

"You really think he's still in there?" the fox asked.

"Yeah, and not in a good way."

The pair began searching through the ruins. Sonic never usually returned to any of the ruins of their battles. He was usually attending victory parties, and celebrating, and left the clean-up to others. But this time Sonic wanted to know.

The pair began digging through the rubble. After much scavenging amidst piles of broken equipment and robots, they eventually found the remains of Eggman's mech. They began clearing off some of the rubble, exposing it fully. They didn't need to do anything further, as in front of them, as clear as day, was the deceased body of Doctor Eggman, limped over in the chair of the machines cockpit.

* * *

_Robotnik had to return the next day. He simply couldn't believe what he had seen. Returning to the remains of his factory, he surveyed the wreckage, slightly depressed at the sum of his work routinely destroyed. Yet still, this time maybe he would get some news that would make it all worthwhile. As his robots scurried around, carefully sifting through the rubble, Robotnik began taking stock of the last battle again, just to be sure._

_"Eggman sir," one of the robots said, "We found it."_

_Eggman flew over in his Eggpod. He looked closely, still in disbelief. There it was; the body of Sonic the Hedgehog, face down under the rubble, dead under the force of the falling ceiling._

* * *

Sonic broke the news to the masses later that day, and to many it was a reason to celebrate. Across the planet, all manner of animals broke out into street parties, celebrating the fact that they were finally free of the fear of the evil scientist who kept terrorising them in order to take over the world. But for Sonic, it was a bit more sombre. Yes, Sonic had fought the human for a long time, but it was over now, and Sonic wasn't quite sure how to react.

* * *

_Robotnik told the world immediately. He had his machines hijack a news feed, and gave a live announcement that the hedgehog had been killed, and that he would now be doubling his efforts to takeover, now that he had nobody to stop him. The whole world mourned the loss of Sonic; his was a figurehead, an icon, and a brilliant soldier in the unending battle against Robotnik's tyranny and oppression. _

* * *

After a few days, the parties died down, and people began to move on with their lives. But for Sonic, this was a tough question. His life had been all about stopping Eggman, but now that was over, he was stuck for what to do. Tails initially suggested getting in contact with GUN, and helping them, but Sonic declined, they were too serious for his liking. Instead, he committed himself to finding all of Eggman's hidden bases, and permanently destroying all of Eggman's weapons once and for all.

* * *

_Robotnik immediately began rebuilding. He had another weapon in mind already, inspired to work by the victory he had had. In spite of the massive lose of forces that battle had produced, Robotnik finally had a plus to motivate him, and he put all that energy into building up an army to invade with. But Robotnik was still not out of enemies, Tails had already stepped forwards and countered Robotnik's TV appearance to announce he wouldn't stop fighting, and many of Sonic's hanger-on's had agreed. But without Sonic, Robotnik was sure they would all crumble and fall to him.  
_


	2. Rise and Fall (and Rise)

As Sonic began touring the world, he slowly began to find the hidden bases. In spite of being dead, Eggman still had defences in place, and though there was no big scheme to stop, Sonic still took a lot of joy in fighting Eggman's machines, but it just wasn't the same for him. These weren't attackers; they were defensive machines, following not orders, but simple programming. There was no climax to be found in these battles, no end fight to win, and no victory to be had, just a series of rooms to be cleared out and destroyed. Noble work for sure, but not the fun Sonic was used to.

* * *

_Robotnik began another global quest for domination. Yet this time he was nervous. Normally, he knew he'd have to start fighting when Sonic showed up, but this time there were a number of other people who all intended to fill the hedgehog's red and white shoes. But despite having a multitude of different opponents, Robotnik didn't feel quite as he did when he battled Sonic. Some of them were too easy to fight, while others took the battles too seriously for Robotnik to fully enjoy the way he could when he fought against Sonic._

* * *

Months passed, and Sonic had cleared most of the bases. Tails had got him the full intelligence after finally cracking into Eggman's main servers. This made taking out most the remnants quick work, as they now had a list to work from. Though a few things still eluded them, they were able to make real progress on clearing out Eggman's empire, and peace was truly settling on the planet as they did.

* * *

_As the months passed, Robotnik had several more successes. True, the big names such as Tails and Shadow still eluded his grasp, but a lot of the wannabes fell to him, and land was slowly being conquered or surrendered to Robotnik's rule. With each piece Robotnik gained more resources, and drew ever closer to taking over the entire planet._

* * *

The months turned into years for Sonic. Though he never stopped looking for what was left of Eggman's machinery, he had slowed down his efforts, and began to move on with his life. His priorities began to change, and to even his own surprise on reflection, he began to settle down, choosing to raise a family. The urge to go adventuring still burned within him, but nowhere near as brightly as he got older, and he settled into the routine.

* * *

_As the years went by, Robotnik's rule extended further and further. One by one, the resistances fell. Robotnik had managed an extremely clever ploy to dismantle GUN from the inside that largely involved an explosive in the main offices. But as Robotnik became ruler of the world he began to find it incredibly dull. It was mostly paperwork, and dealing with trivial issues such as ensuring things worked as they were supposed to according to his law. The time he could spend designing weapons and inventing became less and less, and Robotnik was getting very bored of the same thing over and over._

* * *

As Sonic finally reached old age, the world had enjoyed many years of peace and prosperity. Even GUN had eventually been disbanded, a relic of a world that no longer needed it. Everything was now running smoothly, and it truly was a golden era for the world. But Sonic was suffering. His body was now failing him. No longer able to run at all, Sonic was a mere shadow of his old self, a victim of time, unable to do much at all, but reminisce about the good times he had, when he and his old buddies used to team up and explore the world, finding lost treasures and saving the day. Eventually, Sonic finally lost the battle, his body simply gave up one night as the old hedgehog slept, his final dreams being that of being beaten by Eggman.

* * *

_The world had fallen into complete disarray. Robotnik had grown so sick of ruling that he simply abandoned the world, and merely focused on his own amusements. His robots still lurked around, following orders that he hadn't had updated in years, but Robotnik himself had locked himself away in a laboratory, working on making more sophisticated equipment that never saw the light of day. He had already invented devices that would prolong his life indefinitely, but he kept all that knowledge for himself, slowly mechanising himself just enough to avoid succumbing to old age._

* * *

One by one, Sonic's friends died, but his legacy lived on. He was regarded as first a hero, then a legend, but time kept passing, until one day, centuries later, as a storybook myth to teach children the importance of friendship, and not attempting to take over the world. Knowledge of Sonic slipped out of history, with details slowly being lost, such as his eye colour, or whether or not his shoes had buckles. Historians tried to preserve this knowledge as best they could, but times withers all information eventually.

* * *

_Robotnik saw in the centuries as they passed, having long since passed the point of being anything but a robot. Still, his forces were loyal to him, but on the surface the world was slowly rebelling once again. This time however Robotnik no longer cared. He was too old, and too tired for all of the conflict, and while he did occasionally show some force, it was not because he wanted to, but because he had worked so hard to rule the world, that he didn't want to admit that his dream was a mistake, and what he wanted really was just to fight against Sonic, a name long since forgotten to anyone alive._

* * *

It was a pair of archaeologists who eventually found it. Sat right underneath the ruins of the Green Hill Zone, now an area filled with lava, they found the last of Eggman's bases, the only one that, according to historical records, Sonic never found. The pair was extremely excited to find it and wondered what was inside. Eagerly they entered, taking their best efforts to not ruin history. But in spite of how old it was, the place was still monitored. As they finally got to the centre, they found something puzzling, a large sculpture of a blue hedgehog.

"That's weird," one of them said, "Why would the Egg Men build a statue to their enemy?" as the statues eyes light up and it slowly whirred in to life. Neither of them were quite aware just what this 'statue' could accomplish, especially in a world that had been peaceful for so long, it didn't know how to fight.

* * *

_The resistance had grown larger now. Eggman was now camped inside one lone base, with the last of his forces. His machines had been no match for the newest generation of freedom fighters who had developed psychic abilities and had managed to steal the Chaos Emeralds from him. His computers estimated it would be any day now before they finally broke through the last of his defences. _

_"Metal Sonic," Robotnik commanded to his most loyal machine, and the one that had become his best friend, "This is it. It's time the empire fell. We have now endured in history for too long my friend."_

_Metal Sonic simply nodded, and the pair lowered their defences, and stood waiting, wondering what the rebellion would do to them._


End file.
